The Benefits of Astaxanthin Measured as Nature's Strongest Antioxidant

Get to know the benefits of astaxanthin for your joints, skin and eyes — and its ability to enhance athletic performance.

Few people have heard of it, but the antioxidant astaxanthin offers so many benefits that it won't stay unknown very long.This algae-based antioxidant has been shown to be a very
effective treatment for all types of tendon, joint and muscle pain,
arthritis and tennis elbow.

It's also a great
nutritional supplement for beautiful skin, and it offers unique and powerful benefits for your eyesight as well. Astaxanthin has become the favorite supplement of endurance athletes for its ability to help your body generate energy and reduce lactic acid buildup that depletes you of your stamina.

What is Astaxanthin?

Astaxanthin (pronounced asta-ZAN-thin) is one of a group of natural pigments known as xanthophylls (pronounced ZAN-tho-fils), a subcategory of the carotenoid family.

Carotenoids are phytochemicals (plant chemicals) produced by plants (and some animals, too) as part of their survival mechanisms. Plants use carotenoids and their natural antioxidant properties to protect themselves from the harsh rays of the sun.

Salmon and shellfish get their red or pinkish color from a diet of krill and other small organisms that in turn eat astaxanthin-rich algae and plankton. You can get some astaxanthin by eating these foods, but taking supplements made from microalgae is far more beneficial. Microalgae contain as much as 1,000 times the concentration of natural astaxanthin that you'll find in salmon.

The Properties of AstaxanthinMake It Unique Among Antioxidants

Astaxanthin has been shown by some standards to be the strongest natural antioxidant known. Although it's hard to say that about any one specific nutrient, astaxanthin does have a combination of properties that make it completely unique in the world of antioxidants:

Astaxanthin can reach into every part of the cell, inside and out, similar to lipoic acid.

Astaxanthin can cross the blood-brain barrier to protect the brain and nervous system.

Astaxanthin can cross the blood-retinal barrier and bring protection to the eyes.

Astaxanthin works in every part of your body, organs and skin.

Astaxanthin does not oxidize after it does its job, like many other antioxidants do

Astaxanthin is in a class by itselfbecause it can handle many different typesof free radicals
simultaneously —a rarequality among antioxidants.

Many antioxidants can only handle one type of free radical at a time,
and they tend to have a preference for one type – a singlet oxygen free
radical, a nitric oxide free radical, or a peroxyl free radical.

The Benefits of Astaxanthin for Inflammation

Inflammation is your body's response against infection, and the mechanism it uses for repairing injured tissue. When a virus attacks your cells, your inflammatory system kicks in to fight it off. If you sprain an ankle, your inflammatory system works to repair the damage. Other examples of inflammation include the swelling you experience from arthritis and sunburn.

"Silent" inflammation underlies many diseases. While occasional inflammation is a normal, healthy process, chronic inflammation can lead to serious problems. This is often called systemic or "silent" inflammation.

This chronic inflammation has commonly been associated with with asthma and arthritis, but now is thought to be an underlying cause of atherosclerosis, strokes, ulcers, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, cancer, diabetes and more.

Common treatments for inflammation come with significant side effects. These include aspirin, acetaminophen and the prescription drug Celebrex. None of these are harmless; they all have significant side effects, serious enough to result in over 100,000 hospitalizations and 15,000 deaths per year in the United States. Complications from the use of these medications represent about 40% of all drug-related emergency visits.

People are discovering the benefits of astaxanthin for any problem resulting from chronic inflammation. It's a completely safe alternative, and is effective for a large percentage of users.

Astaxanthin for Joint Pain

Astaxanthin can help reduce pain and inflammation in tendons, joints and muscles. Astaxanthin has been shown to be a very effective remedy for all types of joint pain, including tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, and joint soreness after strenuous exercise.

A health survey taken by the Nutrex-Hawaii company showed that over 80% of those experiencing back pain and symptoms from osteo- or rheumatoid arthritis reported an improvement from supplementing with astaxanthin.

Astaxanthinfor Athletic Endurance and Recovery

A
convincing demonstration of the benefits of astaxanthin for athletic
performance is the feat of salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

Salmon often
go without food for days, drawing on their own reserves while making
their way upstream for hundreds of miles. Where do they acquire such
endurance? Much of it comes from their considerable dietary intake of
astaxanthin.

The benefits of astaxanthin for serious athletes are significant. Regular users report that supplementing with astaxanthin:

increases strength and stamina

reduces recovery time

prevents joint and muscle soreness after exercise

If you excercise regularly, you don't want to be slowed down from fatigue or sore joints and muscles. Anything that can reduce inflammation will benefit your performance — and astaxanthin has been shown to be one of the most effective natural inflammatories there are.

How does astaxanthin help with stamina and endurance? Astaxanthin's ability to increase your endurance is due to its beneficial effect on your mitochondria, the part of your cells that generates up to 95 percent of your energy. Many of your mitochondrial cells are found in your muscle tissue; that's where you have the greatest need for them. When your mitochondria can't produce enough energy to meet your body's demands, your strength and endurance suffer.

This energy-producing activity of your mitochondria also has a downside — it generates highly reactive free radicals that damage your cell membranes. The more strenuous your activity, the more free radicals you produce. This cellular damage results in excessive inflammation which results in tired and sore muscles.

When you're engaged in any strenuous aerobic exercise, your body is using oxygen at an accelerated rate, and generating 12 times as many free radicals as when you are resting. Numerous studies, with humans as well as animals, have shown that astaxanthin's powerful ability to quench these free radicals gives you more strength and endurance.

Astaxanthin is also effective in reducing lactic acid buildup during intense exercise. Lactic acid is what produces the "burn" you feel when you're exerting your muscles to their max; lactic acid buildup will reduce your overall stamina.

Many competitive and endurance athletes have become believers in astaxanthin supplements for all of the above reasons.

Astaxanthin for Youthful, Beautiful Skin

One of the most frequently-reported benefits of astaxanthin is an improvement in skin quality. There is evidence that astaxanthin not only prevents UV sun damage from occurring, but may actually help to reverse external signs of aging, from the inside out. This has been clearly demonstrated in human clinical trials.

Many users of astaxanthin supplements report that they are able to spend significantly more time out in the sun without burning than they were able to before. This is due to the powerful anti-inflammatory properties that astaxanthin has. (A sunburn is essentially an inflammation of your skin).

Dr. Nicholas Perricone, one of the world's leading antiaging experts, highly recommends astaxanthin for reducing wrinkles and age spots, improving moisture levels, elasticity and smoothness, and for giving your skin a beautiful, healthy glow.

Several cosmetic manufacturers have begun to use astaxanthin in facial and body creams for its UV protection and ability to heal damaged skin.

The Benefits of Astaxanthin for Eye Health

Recent studies reveal that astaxanthin is the ultimate supplement for eye health and the prevention of blindness, because it's one of the few antioxidants that can penetrate the retinal barrier in your eyes. Supplementing with astaxanthin has been found to have protective benefits against a wide range of vision-related problems, including:

cataracts

macular degeneration

diabetic retinopathy

glaucoma and many others

Other Reported Benefits of Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin benefits cover virtually the entire spectrum available from
antioxidants. Aside from those previously mentioned, studies have demonstrated an amazing number of
benefits of astaxanthin:

Supplementing for the Benefits of Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is certainly one of the most important antioxidants you can supplement with. It's not available in significant quantities from your diet, as wild salmon is the only abundant source. So it makes sense to take astaxanthin in a supplemental form.

Insist on getting natural astaxanthin —
it's 20 times more powerful than the artificial varieties, which are
produced from petrochemicals. There's really only once source to
consider — BioAstin Natural Astaxanthin by Nutrex Hawaii.

Nutrex Hawaii has been growing spirulina at its 90-acre facility located
on Hawaii's pristine Kona Coast for over 20 years. They now also produce astaxanthin from microalgae, the first
company in the world to do so, using patented and
proprietary technology. Their harvesting and processing techniques
produce the purest microalgae-based dietary supplements
in the world. Many other companies actually sell the Nutrex product
under their own label.

"Astaxanthin is on my list as one of the top 3 most important nutrients for human health (along with vitamin D and omega-3 fats)."

Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com

You can find testimonials from astaxanthin users on the Nutrex-Hawaii website.

Recommended dosage is 4mg/day for most people. For treatment of chronic pain, inflammation or sunburn protection, you may want to take a higher dosage. There is no toxicity issue, but higher dosages probably aren't necessary for most users.

The Benefits of Astaxanthin Supplementation for Eyesight

To get special antioxidant protection for your eyes, Nutrex makes a product called EyeAstin, which combines astaxathin with lutein, zeaxanthin and bilberry.

This product contains all the antioxidants recommended for maximum anti-inflammatory and health benefits for your eyes. They help support and enhance eye function, improve night vision, and reduce eye fatigue and strain, and may help prevent the occurrence of degenerative diseases of the eyes.

What's the best place to find BioAstin astaxanthin supplements?

I recommend iHerb.com. They have the lowest prices on Nutrex Hawaiian astaxanthin — typically 30% less than buying direct! iHerb also offers all these other great benefits:

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This website is written as a source of information only. The information
found here should by no means be considered a substitute for the advice
of a qualified medical professional, who should always be consulted
before beginning any new diet, exercise or other health program. All
efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information found
here. The author expressly disclaims responsibility for any adverse
effects arising from the use of or application of the information
contained herein.